The current emergency response to a radiological dispersal device (RDD), for which a blast suppression and dispersion mitigation foam is needed, requires transport of almost fifty, 5-gallon drums of foam concentrate (AFC-380), which was developed previously at Sandia National Laboratories (along with support and deployment equipment). Emergency responders have a new objective of substantially reducing the weight required to deploy a RDD blast suppression and dispersion mitigation foam. What is needed are improved formulations that result in a more concentrated and more effective version than the current blast mitigation foam concentrate AFC-380. Such formulations would offer the potential to substantially reduce the weight of the blast suppression and dispersion mitigation foam to meet the objective of the emergency responders.
Foams are generally prepared and deployed as concentrates. For example, AFC-380 is prepared in the form of a 6% concentrate. To deploy 100 gallons of finished foam, 6 gallons of AFC-380 concentrate is added to 94 gallons of make-up water (obtained from a local source such as a fire hydrant, lake, or stream). Likewise, to make 100 gallons of finished foam using a 3% concentrate, 3 gallons of foam concentrate would be added to 97 gallons of make-up water. The basic strategy employed in this invention to reduce the weight of the blast suppression and dispersion mitigation foam by developing a more highly concentrated foam concentrate (i.e., more concentrated than the 6% AFC-380 concentrate).
As will be shown in the experimental results, we have developed a 2% foam concentrate that has a greater expansion ratio and higher foam stability than AFC-380. This new formulation would only require 2 gallons of foam concentrate to make 100 gallons of finished foam (as compared to 6 gallons of AFC-380 foam concentrate), which reduces the weight burden on the user by approximately 67%.
Against this background, the present invention was developed.